With A Couple Of New PRs, All-American Transfer Luke Tewalt Adds Even More Depth To Ducks' Potent Distance Lineup

By Lori Shontz For DyeStat

Luke Tewalt knows there are many reasons he’s off to such a strong start in the final outdoor season of his collegiate career. 

After five years at Wake Forest, he’s now competing for Oregon, which means he’s training with what he calls, basically, “an entire NCAA podium” of teammates. He’s got all of the state-of-the-art facilities at Hayward Field. 

And he’s also got a coach, Jerry Schumacher, who believes in the power of recovery. Even though Tewalt has upped his weekly mileage and is running harder intervals in practice, he feels stronger and smoother than ever before. 

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“I think massage is great,” Tewalt said, grinning. “Who doesn’t love a massage? And I’m a people person, so I love talking to these people. I’ve learned so much about life from just listening to the massage therapists.” 

Tewalt opened his outdoor season in April by running the first 10,000 of his career at the Stanford Invitational, finishing in 28:00.52, which is No. 6 on the Ducks’ all-time performance list. 

He followed up the first weekend in May by running 13:19.82 in the 5,000 Payton Jordan Invitational, cutting more than eight seconds from his PR and turning in the seventh-best performance in Ducks history. 

And now he will be a key scorer for the Ducks as they enter the Big Ten Outdoor Championships this weekend in Lincoln, Neb. He said he will run the 10,000 on Thursday evening, and if the Ducks need points on Sunday, he’ll come back in the 5,000. 

“My body’s never been at this level before,” Tewalt said. “So it means that Coach Jerry’s really locked in and knows what he’s doing.” 

At Wake Forest, Tewalt said, he was running 80-mile weeks and primarily doing double thresholds. Since arriving at Oregon seven months ago, he has increased his weekly mileage to 90 to 95 miles, but he’s doing one running workout a day and one lifting session, a combination that he called “super intense.” 

He said he’s been able to “let loose” in training, and that’s been the difference. “I think my PRs are now showing that when I can train a little bit harder,” he said, “my results come a little bit quicker.” 

Tewalt said the key for him has been recovery: ice baths, massages, taking advantage of Oregon’s state-of-the art facilities.

“When I was at Wake, I was tired all the time,” he said. “I think it was because we ran a lot of miles and a lot of heavy workout days, and it just got me into a good spot. But now that I have even more time to recover in between sessions with just that one workout a day, I’m feeling even fresher even though I’m running so much more. So that’s been mind-blowing.”

Tewalt’s path to collegiate running started when he was growing up in the Washington, D.C., area. He and his younger sister were born in Ethiopia, and they moved when they were adopted in 2007, when they were 4 years old and 19 months old, respectively.

“Our parents were looking to adopt two kids, and they wanted a boy and girl,” Tewalt said. “The stars aligned, and we got the best parents in the entire world.”

The D.C. area is a hotbed for lacrosse, and Tewalt started playing because his older brother did. By the time he got to high school, he found himself facing, as he put it, “huge dudes with 6-foot long lacrosse sticks.” Tewalt wanted to be a collegiate athlete – and eventually a professional athlete -- but he realized that lacrosse was not going to be his sport.

“I realized that my greatest asset to the team was that I had great stamina,” he said. “I could always keep moving the ball around.”

So Tewalt went out for cross country in ninth grade, won his first race and decided that’s how he would make his athletic dreams come true.

He won the 2018 D.C. Championship in cross country for Latin High School and won nine state titles, as well. He then went to Wake Forest, where he finished fifth in the 5,000 at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships and eighth in the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships. After finishing his degree in political science with minors in sustainability and Middle Eastern studies, Tewalt decided to transfer for his final season of outdoor eligibility. 

When Schumacher called, Tewalt was surprised because he had only one season of outdoor eligibility left, no cross country or indoor. Schumacher said that conversation made him certain that Tewalt was the right fit for the Ducks’ distance squad. 

“He wanted to be here,” Schumacher said. “That’s important for me as a coach and for athletes in the program. I want people who want to be here and want to do what we’re doing. He was very adamant: That’s everything I want to do.” 

Tewalt said he learned that perspective from his father, Ed Freeman, who died in February. He called his dad, an engineer, “the most brilliant person I know.” 

“He always taught me to think for yourself, don’t be a sheep, don’t follow others, really be an intelligent, kind, caring person,” Tewalt said. “Those are the attributes my father embodies, and I hope I can do the same.” 

Tewalt said he has found similar people at Oregon, particularly the massage therapist who worked on him after he returned from his father’s funeral. 

“He took care of me,” he said. “He let me cry, let me just be. He was there for me when I needed him the most, and you know, it’s just good people around here. That’s really helped my transition.”